Apple denied permission to erect “obtrusive” flagpole at London store

Regent Street shop remains closed on iPhone 7 day after planning permission is refused. 

Kelly Fiveash

• Apple's flagship London store in Regent Street remains closed on September 16—the day the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus goes on sale in the UK.

  Sebastian Anthony

• Sebastian Anthony

• Sebastian Anthony

Apple's flagship London store has been closed for refurbishment for months now, and fans might have expected it to open on the day that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus went on sale—but it remains shuttered after the company was refused permission to erect an "incongruous and obtrusive" illuminated flagpole outside the building, Ars has learned.

City of Westminster council's director of planning John Walker told Apple that it had turned down its application to install two external light fittings to illuminate flags erected outside its Regent Street store.

"The illuminated flag and flagpole would be incongruous and obtrusive features of the street and they would fail to maintain or improve (preserve or enhance) the character and appearance of the Regent Street Conservation Area," he said (PDF).

Walker added that Apple's request had been refused because it failed to meet a number of requirements for the grade II listed building at 235 Regent Street, Mayfair.

Apple can appeal against the decision, which was made on August 31—less than a week before the official launch of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. However, it's unclear whether the tech giant will attempt to get the council's decision reversed. The current appeal status is marked as "unknown."

In a related report (PDF), the council said that Apple's proposal was "unacceptable in principle." It added:

The proposed spotlights are to go on top of the cornice above the main entrance, beneath the open pediment. The fittings themselves, though small and coloured to match the stone, are unnecessary clutter in an architecturally significant part of the building.

There is a considerable amount of illumination to building facades in Regent Street, but the illumination of flags and flagpoles, of which there are many, is not typical.

It is not considered appropriate to illuminate the flagpoles because this would draw unwarranted attention to a commercial feature in a night time streetscape that consists mainly of architectural illumination.

Apple also botched its initial application seeking planning permission for the external light fittings to the flag because it failed to pay a fee of £195 to the council, according to correspondence (PDF) dated July 1 this year.

Enlarge / Unnecessary clutter? Drawing shows Apple's flagpole plans, which have been turned down by the City of Westminster council for being "incongruous and obtrusive."

Foster + Partners

Meanwhile, Apple has been given strict planning instructions about the refurbishment of its Regent Street store, which is also likely to have slowed the building work down. It was given permission to install metal louvres on the north and west elevations of the property at the first floor level. The end result, according to the documentation, will be an " internal plant room" where heavy machinery will be used.

But there are significant caveats that Apple must adhere to, not only due to the conservation status of the building and immediate area, but also because of the ongoing Crossrail work taking place in the neighbourhood.

The council said (PDF):

Crossrail is very likely to have monitoring equipment both the inside of the building and on its external facades. The equipment is installed under the Crossrail Act 2008 and records ground movements (measured automatically or manually) and is essential for the control of ground settlement impact on buildings during Crossrail's works.

Apple—like any other business in the area considering construction work—was told that it must "obtain details of monitoring equipment installed in order to ensure that your works do not interfere with Crossrail's monitoring equipment."

Work at Apple's flagship London store has been going on all year. A temporary shop was initially opened to customers in the basement of the building when the refurbishment first started, but it has since closed down.

Ars sought comment from Apple on this story. We asked the company to tell us when it expects the store to reopen, but it hadn't got back to us at time of publication.

Listing image by Sebastian Anthony